


Test Area

by a_q



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Arguing, Canon Compliant, Chastity Device, Community: kink_bingo, Consensual Kink, Curiosity, Non-Sexual Kink, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 20:49:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1913334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_q/pseuds/a_q
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hank had a long history testing his best inventions on himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Test Area

At their first meeting, Hank focused solely on Doctor Xavier and his sister. They weren't the first visitors in his lab, but they were the first ones who were more interested about him than his work, and Hank basked in their mutual attention. He overlooked Lehnsherr, mostly because he stayed near the exit and barely said two words to him.

Then, Hank didn't know why he should've paid attention to Lehnsherr. He had only read the preliminary mission report from Miami, which hadn't told him much. There had been a short mention that the 'Catalina' broke in two before it sunk, but Hank's first assumption had been explosives, not that one man could lift an anchor with his bare hands and toss it into a yacht.

And while they discussed about their abilities, Lehnsherr had kept to himself, speaking only if Doctor Xavier turned to talk directly to him. How could anyone expect that Hank could've deduced the ability to control magnetic fields from one sentence in a mission report and a curt, two-second greeting from the man himself?

That's what he told himself later.

After the short tour through his labs, Hank joined them for a lunch at the cafeteria. He spent the time dazzled by Raven's smile and answering Charles' questions about his work. Hank hadn't had so much fun in a long time, and he would've loved to stay with them longer, but they were guests and he was on the payroll. He couldn't have a two-hour lunch even if he wanted to, not with the project deadlines he had. He apologized Raven and Charles, and went back to work.

The wing quieted after five, the security shift emptying the floor and the rest of the personnel heading to the town for dinner and cocktails. They didn't invite him, but he didn't expect that. He had been hired to run the R&D division over men twice his age, and that had caused a lot of resentment. Hank had no friends here, but it didn't really matter to him. He was here to work.

Hank sat at his desk, doodling down ideas how to reuse the scrapped Cerebro-project. Originally he had meant it to be used to prove the existence of psionic abilities, but Charles had now solved that question. But, if he modified the shape, some of the electronics and added some kind of user interface, Cerebro could theoretically boost Charles' telepathy. It was interesting possibility, though he mostly kept drifting back to Raven and her beautiful eyes. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone walk past his door. Hank turned, listening. They turned at the end of the hallway, walked past the door again, and stopped there. There was no real reason to anyone be at this side of the facility at this hour. Hank stood up, considering if he should press the silent alarm. The security protocol was there for a reason, but the agents would get cranky if he bothered them without a reason.

Hank was still trying to decide what to do, when there was a short, curt knock and the door opened before he could answer. Lehnsherr stood in the doorway. He looked contemplative, like he considered if he should be here or not.

“Good evening? The guest rooms are in the next hallway, go back and turn...” Hank started to say, assuming his apprehension came from being turned around. The facility wasn't the easiest building to navigate, Hank had gotten lost in his first week here every time he had stepped out of his office.

“I'm not lost,” he said, closing the door behind him.

“Then what can I do for you?” Hank asked. The official tour was one thing, but being alone with him in an empty lab made Hank feel uncomfortable. He turned to gather his papers, slipping the most confidential files under the pile.

“I don't know yet,” Lehnsherr said. He walked closer, hands in his pockets. “Have you build everything here yourself?”

Hank glanced at him. There was something curious about the way he said it.

“Ah, hm...” Hank looked around the lab, trying to think what he was after with the question. “Most of it, yes. Some parts I outsource, but the research team makes all the designs.”

“And what's on you? Did you outsource that?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

He leaned his hip against the work bench, staring at him. “You have a lot of metal on you, I haven't seen that in a while. You wear a cage, don't you?”

Hank glanced instinctively down, and then looked back up, trying not to blush. He had dressed the same as he always did, nothing would show. The fact that he had looked down revealed much more than his appearance ever would.

“But how do you...You can see it? How?”

“Metal is my specialty,” he said, like that should've been obvious. “And I've seen this before. Why do you wear it?”

“It's a personal preference.” As curious as he was about Lehnsherr's skills, Hank hadn't talked about his habit with anyone in a long time, and he wasn't ready to divulge this sort of information about himself to a complete stranger.

“As long as it's your preference, not someone elses,” he said, looking around the lab, like he expected to see someone standing in the shadows.

Hank frowned. “What do you mean?”

He ignored his question with a shrug. “I've met cage wearers before, but I've never got a feel of one like this.” He turned to look at him closely. “How much metal do you have in there? The weight must be incredible.”

“Not really, I designed it so that...” Hank started to explain, and then realized what kind of conversation he was about to start. He bit his tongue, his heart pounding. Lehnsherr looked more interested than ever, leaning closer like he wanted to get a better feel of him.

“You designed the cage? That's new. Would you let me see it?” he asked, like that was a reasonable question in this situation.

“What? No, absolutely not!” He waved toward the door. “I think you should leave now, I have to get back to work.”

“It's past five. You're off the clock, aren't you? Do these people monitor you?” There was a slight hostile edge in his voice, and Hank tensed up again.

“Of course not, but this is still my work place, and I don't feel comfortable discussing my personal life here!”

Hank knew that this place didn't look like a laid-back working environment to outsiders, but he liked structure, and his job was a central part of that. Besides, where else he could've gotten the funding and the freedom to design and build basically anything he wanted? He liked working here, and he wasn't about to let some stranger ruin that for him. It had been bad enough that they had exposed his mutation like that, he didn't need any other private issues brought up today. Especially not this one.

Hank waved at the door again, more pointedly. “So if you don't mind?”

Lehnsherr smirked. “Relax, I'm not coming on to you. I only have a technical interest to your invention. You can think this as a work-related discussion, if that helps.”

“No, I don't think so.” Hank turned away to hide his blush. He hadn't realize to think his actions as flirting.

Either Lehnsherr caught on his reluctance or the matter didn't interest him much more than this, but he turned to leave. “Maybe we'll talk about this later?”

“I don't think so,” Hank repeated. He heard the door close and even though it was pointless against someone who controlled metal, and he was interested to know how, Hank went to lock the door. He didn't want anymore surprises today.

He tried to get back to work, but his focus drifted, first back to Raven and her smile, then to her brother and his enthusiasm, then back around to Lehnsherr and his interest in him. Erik, his name was. He remembered that Raven had talked to him at the lunch. Hank didn't know what to think about them all. They had just appeared here, shook up his life for no reason, and they would leave again in a few days, leaving him standing in the ruins. The thought didn't brighten his mood.

He sighed and closed the file in front of him. It had been a strange day, and it wasn't turning any better. He might as well go to bed. He gathered all the files together, snapping the heavy rubber-band around them before pushing the files under his arm. He might as well keep them with him, since there was no point to put confidential files into a safe while Lehnsherr was here. Cracking a safe wouldn't be a problem for him, that was an easy guess.

Hank shut the lights and locked the door. He made a short detour to stop by the vending machine to buy a candy bar, and as the machine rattled, he picked up Lehnsherr's steps in the hallway. He cursed quietly and snatched the candy bar, rushing around the corner and into the men's room. The last thing he wanted was to repeat the discussion about his cage out in the open, where anyone could hear them. He didn't exactly trust Erik's indiscretion at the moment.

The men's room was empty, the stall doors open and the air smelling like artificial lemon. The cleaning crew had passed through already. Hank hopped on the counter top to eat the candy, calculating how fast Erik had walked plus how long the hallway was, so how long it would take for him to get to the guest wing. The math made him think about how Cerebro could amplify the radius of Charles' telepathy. He took a pen from his pocket and jotted down the idea into the file cover sheet.

The door opened and Hank looked up from the file. It was Erik. Hank frowned. He understood curiosity, but following him around went too far.

“What do you want?” Hank asked.

Erik looked around the five white stalls and equal amount of urinals. “Take a leak?”

“Right, sorry.” Hank got up quick, embarrassed that he had assumed he was after him. “I'll be off then.”

“Why? This looks like a public bathroom to me,” he said, walking past him. “Do you have to sit down?”

“What?”

“I knew a chastity wearer who liked to do that. Stalls are safer anyway, if you don't want to parade your personal preference in public bathrooms,” he continued. “Though some like that too.”

"Right." Hank tossed the candy bar in the trash, turning to the sink to wash the caramel from his fingers. He wasn't sure if he mocked him, or maybe his comment was a threat, that he planned to expose him the same way as Charles had done. But he could've done that already, what was the point talking to him about it? Unless he really wanted to see his device, but mocking him wasn't the right way to go about it.  
  
“Don’t you have to go?” Erik continued behind his back. “I can make sure no one gets in here if you want to try peeing out in the open for change.”

“No thank you,” Hank said. He took a paper towel and dried his hands. "I'm not showing it to you."

“Are you sure? The cage aficionados I've met enjoyed when someone admired their dedication,” Erik said. “What’s the point of an achievement, if no one sees it?”

“Drop it,” Hank muttered, annoyed, tossing the crumbled paper towel into the trash can. “I don't need attention, or admiration! I wear it for myself, why is that so hard to understand?”

“Oh, I understand. You like to hide,” Erik said, moving next to him, leaning his hip against the edge of the sink. “Even your cage is the same. You aren't showing any skin at all.”

Hank scoffed, pushing past him and going at the door. He pulled the handle, and there was a quiet thud and the door stuck in place. Hank turned, trying to control his anger. “I’m not showing my cage to you to get out of here! Open the door!”

Hank hoped no one walking down the hallway would hear him.This already looked bad, being locked into a men’s room with someone. He knew perfectly well what the agents talked about him behind his back, since his hearing was far better than any regular human. Nothing got past him, though he pretended otherwise to keep his team at ease. In any case, this could turn into a plain catastrophe in no time, and he would be kicked out of the R&D, just because Lehnsherr couldn't let this matter rest. Hank felt the growl rumble in his chest and he squashed it down with all his might.

“See, I think you want to show it to me,” Erik said lightly, crossing his arms. “You came up with the design, you made it, fitted it to be perfect, and now you can stop wearing it. You view it as your greatest invention. I know how to appreciate it, I can promise you that.”

Hank stared at him. “What? I designed a functioning reconnaissance aircraft, that’s obviously my best invention yet!” He said it with as much clout as he could muster, but even he could hear the lack of conviction in his own voice.

“Keep hiding then,” Erik said and waved his hand dismissively, the door clicking open behind Hank's back. Erik turned and walked to the urinal, the one in the middle.  
  
Hank stared at his back, realizing that Erik was right about one thing. He was proud about this particular cage, it had taken him weeks to get it right. Erik probably knew how it was constructed, about the care and design he had put in it. No one else could see it like he could. Was it that bad to show him, this one time? They would all leave soon, wouldn't they? It wasn't that risky, really. One time thing. Hank hesitated, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't talk himself out of it. Maybe it was stupid, but he wanted to know what Lehnsherr would say about his work.

Hank took one hesitant step, and before he knew it, he stood next to him at the urinals.

Lehnsherr smirked at him, widely. It was an unnerving look. “Well?”

Hank took a deep breath and unbuckled his belt, opened the button and pulled down the zipper. Lehnsherr leaned closer, staring down his pants. Hank felt horribly self-conscious as he tugged his underwear down to reveal the metal sleeve around his dick. He was so used to its presence that he hadn't thought about it other than for hygienic reasons, but as he stood there holding his pants down to show the cage to someone else, he realized how odd it must look. He turned to stare at the tiled wall, counting the first row from left to right to calm himself down.

“You put an actual lock in it,” he noted.

“It holds the two pieces together,” Hank said, turning to look at him and relaxing slightly. Technical choices, those were good. He could talk about those. “It’s secure that way. The pieces won't move or twist by accident. It would be very uncomfortable if they did.”

“I can imagine,” Lehnsherr said. “Where do you keep the key?” He looked at the device with a slight frown, but he also had sort of amused air about him. The metal was rather protective, of course not against someone who could control metal, but on principle. It didn't feel much more exposed than any other time in the men's room. Hank closed his hands into fists, pressing them against his thighs to keep them in place. He had never been in the focus of such intense scrutiny, even if it wasn't directly aimed at him.

“What about the key?” Hank asked. It was just a lock, that was hardly the most interesting part of the device. 

“You keep the key with you all the time?”

“Of course,” Hank said, frowning. It would be reckless to leave it somewhere. Not that some one would go through his personal belongings here, but still, it was safer to keep it with him.

Erik shifted, turning his attention fully back to him. “Chastity requires commitment. If you know you can get out of it whenever you want, what are the stakes? You draw a black X on your day book and that's it?”

“If you must know, I follow a strict schedule I set for myself,” Hank said, getting annoyed that he would doubt his commitment. He had done this for a long time, of course he could control himself. What he thought he was, complete pushover? He wasn't!

Erik straightened up, suddenly interested. “Do you mean you keep score?”

“Excuse me, I keep notes, not score. I’m a scientist! And so what if I do? It's my method! I want to see how it affects me, so I need to keep notes, what would be the point without it,” Hank said, getting angry that he pestered him this way. The device was his thing, his creation, and he didn't have to offer any explanations about it to anyone. He could put whatever he wanted around his dick, what did it matter to him?

”I see, it's all about the invention for you, not discipline,” he said, thoughtful. ”Curiosity, that's it. In which case, this cage can't be your first try. The shape alone, you can't get it right on paper. How many versions you have?”

Hank blushed and grabbed his pants, starting to close the zipper, when Erik waved his hand at him, the metal quivering oddly against his fingers. “No, no. Why don't you pull it out, let me take a better look?”

“What, more than this? Why?”

“You should show me all your cages, so I could get a better idea what you've been working on,” he suggested, watching him so intently that Hank had to turn to his eyes. He had said this wasn't flirting, but Hank started to suspect he might have lied about that. Or he enjoyed teasing him.

“No, you know what, this is enough. I have to get back to the work,” Hank said, as firm as he could, and pulled the zipper up, closed the button and tightened the belt back to its place before smoothing his cardigan over it the way it had been.

Hank went back to the sink, washing his hands again. He still felt the spot where Erik had touched him, like he had left a permanent mark there.

“Thank you, this was...educational,” Lehnsherr said behind his back. Again the comment sounded like some private joke that Hank wasn't privy to and he just shrugged, grabbed his files and walked out the door. Lehnsherr didn't try to stop him again.

Hank tried to forget the whole thing. The next morning he considered if he should stop wearing the cage for the time being, but then he decided he wouldn't let Lehnsherr's opinion dictate what he should and shouldn't do with his own body. This was his project, no one elses. The only thing that worried him about it all, was the possibility that Charles might hear about it and tell Raven, which was a whole new level of embarrassment he wasn't ready for. All he could do was hope they would leave soon, even if that meant that he wouldn't see Raven again. He was ready to sacrifice the pleasure of admiring her beautiful smile for a chance to get his life back to normal.

He had no such luck. The Cerebro-project got the green light, and that created bit of a problem to Hank's workdays. The logical choice would've been to avoid Lehnsherr, but that wasn't possible since he followed after Doctor Xavier like a stray dog, and Xavier in turn popped in to his lab when ever the mood hit him. Hank tried his best to ignore him, but that meant very little when Lehnsherr wasn't returning the courtesy. More often than not Hank noticed him standing somewhere near, with that insufferable smirk on his face.

The things finally came to head the night he asked Raven for the makeshift picnic. Everything went so well and they had a great time, until Lehnsherr had to walk past and make his "clever" remark. Hank didn't know what aspect of the situation he was referring to, the syringe or his own position, but judging by the frail shiver he felt around him dick, Lehnsherr was silently commenting his personal choices, once again.

Hank caught up with him later in the hallway, grabbing his arm and pushing him in the men's room.

“Why did you say that in front of her? You promised you would keep it to yourself!”

Lehnsherr gave him a cold look, brushing his hand off his arm. “I didn't promise anything.”

“What?”

“I don't care what you test on yourself, that's your business. But we are going to have a problem, if you continue using them as your private experiment farm.”

“Which one you mean, Raven or Charles?” Hank asked, not bothering to hide his anger. "He wanted to try Cerebro! I didn't force him!"

He turned away with a scoff. “Remember what I said. Do your tests on yourself, if you know what's good for you.”

Hank snarled at him, but didn't dare to do much more than that. He turned to the sink, washing his hands to calm himself down. "I will, don't you worry about that," he muttered to the mirror.

Later, he remembered those words, but by then it was too late.

 


End file.
